Driving mechanism for suspen ded cars



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J.A.ENOS DRIVING MECHANISM FOR- SUSPENDED CARS.

'No. 342,246. Patenfied'May 1.8, 1886..

A w v WITNESSES: INVENI'OR afiw l/ BY ATTORNEYS.

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3 Shets-Sheet 2,

(No Model.) I

, J. A. ENOS.

DRIVING MEGHANISMI'OR SUSPENDED CARS. No. 342,246. Patented May 18, 1886.

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(Nd Model.) a Sheets-Sheet a.

D J. A. ENOS.

DRIVING MECHANISM FOR SUSPENDED OARS. No. 342,246

' Patented May 18, 1886.

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INVENTOB ATTORNEYS.

WITNESSES In. PETERS, Fhulcmhngmphar. Washingion, D. c.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JQHN AUGUSTUSMENOS, OF PEABODY, MASSACHUSETTS DRIVING MECHANISM FUR S U SPENDED CARS.

ifiPECIPTlCATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 342,246, dated May 18, 1886. Application filed November 13, 1885. Serial No. 192,720. (No model.)

Figure 1 is a side elevation ofthe suspending truck with the driving mechanism and hangerbars shown applied to the elevated track. Fig.2 is a vertical cross-section through one of the driving mechanisms of the truelowheels, and Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view through the line a: x of Fig. 2.

My invention is in the nature of an improved driving mechanism for propelling that class of cars which have their centers of gravi ty below the poi nt of support, or which are suspended from an elevated rail; and it consists,

mainly, in a supporting-truck having wheels which rest upon a single rail, combined with an electric motor, the revolving armature of which is rigidly fixed upon the same shaft as the wheels of the suspending-truck.

It also consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of the driving'motoigin combination with the hanger of the car and an upper and lower rail, from thelatter of which the current is taken and passed through the motor, and then allowed to pass to the upper rail, as hereinafter more fully described.

My driving mechanism is designed for use in connection with my suspended-railway system as covered by my Patents Nos. 331,387, 331,388, and 331,389, dated December 1, 1885, to which reference is made for a clearer understanding of the application of the present device.

A and A represent the upper and lower stringers, of wood, carrying upper and lower traclerails, B andB, and braced and held apart by the bars 0, as shown and described in my Patent No. 331,387.

D D D D represent the two hanger-bars, which at their lower ends are jointed to the top of the suspended car, and at their upper ends are secured to the truck-frame F, which has two grooved supporting-wheels, G G, arranged in a line and resting upon the top rail. The connection of these hanger-bars to the trucleframe at a and the springs b for giving the truck an elastic support on the wheels are substantially the same as shown in'my Patent No. 331,389.

In constructing thehanger-bars I make them in upper metal sections, D, and lower metal seetions,D, which are spliced and made as one stiff hanger by wooden splice-bars D but which metallic secti'onsof the hanger are by this means insulated, or have no electrical connection with each other. To the lower sections of the hangers are attached the guide wheel s G G, which bear against the lower rail, and by guiding the ear prevent it from swaying sidewise from the wind, and also permit the two rails to be gripped between the two sets of wheels G and G to enable the car to climb grades. The object of making a break in the conductivity of the hanger-bars is to permitthe electriccurrent to be taken off from the lower rail, passed through the electric niotor, and then allowed to pass to the upper rail.

Just below the connection of the hangerbars to the truck-frame there is attached the motor-frame]: I J J. This motor is an electric motor, and is composed of two electric machines for each supporting-wheelone arranged on one side of the wheel and the other on the other side-both being exactly alike, and those of one wheel corresponding to those of the other wheel, and making four in all. The stationary field-magnets K of these motors are attached to bars I ll of the frame, and the revolving armatures L are rigidly fixed to the shafts of the suspending wheels, which wheels are also rigid on these shafts. The great merit of this arrangement is that the power of the motor is applied directly to the suspending and driving wheels without the interven tion of any mechanism whatever, thus avoiding the loss of any power, and forming amuch more simple and practical driving mechanism. As this form of railway is an elevated railway, this arrangemeut of the electric motor on the same shaft with the drive-wheels is perfectly practical, as the projection of the motor from the wheels does not in this case require any ditch or trench to be dug beside the rail, as it would with the ordinary form of rail, and the benefits to be derived are obvious. \Vith this form of motor the electric current is de signed to be taken from the lower rail, passed through the motor,and allowed to escape from the motor to the upper rail. The lower wheel and the lower section of the hanger-bar being always in electrical connection with thelower rail, two binding-posts, ed, Fig. 2, are placed on the lower section of each of the hanger-hars, and from one of them there leads a conductingwire,c,to one of the brushes of the commutator ofone motor, from the other of which brushes this wire leads to the binding-post, chin elec trical connection with the supporting-wheel and upper rail, thus carrying the current through one of the motors to actuate it. From the other binding-post, d, a wire, d, leads to the brush of the commutator of the other motor on the other side ofthe Wheel,and, passing out from the other brush, goes to the bindingpost, 61, in electrical connection with the supporting-wheel and upper rail, thus carrying the current through this motor to actuate it. The other hanger-bar is similarly provided with electrical connections, so that all four of the electrical machines operate at once upon the shafts of the supporting-wheel, giving to the same the full power of the machines and a very effective traction for propelling the car.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is- 1. The combination, with the suspending truck for a suspended ear, having a'single set lower hanger-section to the motor, substan- 7V tially as shown and described.

3. The combination, with the frame I J, the truck-frame having suspending and driving wheels rigidly fixed to their shafts, and the four electric motors having their revolving armature fixed rigidly on the shafts,of the supporting-wheels and their field -magnets fixed upon frame I J as and for the purpose described.

The above specification of my invention signed by me in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN AUGUSTUS ENOS.

Witnesses SoLoN O. KEMoN, CHAS. A. PETTIT. 

